NEW YORK (Reuters) – Pfizer Inc and BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines appear to lose only a slight effect against engineered viruses with three major mutations from the new variant found in South Africa, according to a laboratory study conducted by US drug manufacturer. .
The study by Pfizer and scientists from the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), which has not yet been peer-reviewed, showed a less than double reduction in antibody titer levels, indicating that the vaccine still effective in neutralizing its virus with the so-called E484K and N501Y mutations in various South Africans.
The test here was done on blood taken from people who received the vaccine. His conclusions are limited, as he does not look at the full set of solutions found in the new South African version.
The scientists are currently inventing a virus with the full set of specimens and expect to get results from that in about two weeks, according to Pei-Yong Shi, study author and professor at UTMB.
The results are more encouraging than another study not studied by scientists at Columbia University earlier Wednesday that used a slightly different method and showed that antibodies generated by the blows were not as effective against variants. South Africa.
One possible reason for the difference is that Pfizer’s findings are based on engineered coronavirus, and a Columbia study used a pseudovirus based on the vesicular stomatitis virus, a different type of virus, he said. Shi at UTMB. He said he believes detection in pseudoviruses should be confirmed using the real virus.
The study also showed even better results against a number of key strains from the UK-transmissible virus variant of the virus. Shi said they were also working on an engineered virus with the full set of filters from that variant as well.
Reporting by Michael Erman, Additional Report Christine Soares; Edited by Sonya Hepinstall